By Nina Godlewski
Breaking News Reporter
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Anyone who hasn't hit the road already in pursuit of their July Fourth destination should be sure to check the traffic before deciding on a time to head out. Google examined historical data from Google Maps to figure out the most congested time to drive around the holiday. To do this, the company looked at anonymized data from last year's holiday period from Monday, July 3, to Thursday, July 6.
Some of the best days to travel prior to the holiday have already come and gone. But for people who are heading to work for the start of the week, Google outlined the best times for them to hit the road once they have some time off as well.
The Google data indicates that there might be a lot of people staying fairly local this year for the holiday due to the fact that it falls mid-week. But that means much of the traffic might fall on the Wednesday holiday.
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There could be as many as 39.7 million people on the roadways this Wednesday, AAA estimated, a five percent increase over last year.
Google made an interactive chart that allows users to select the city they're traveling to that will show them the best time to travel to their chosen city. The chart can also be adjusted to show the most popular times during which people are traveling on the days around July Fourth.
The best time for many people to travel is going to be either early Tuesday morning or late Tuesday night. The same is true for anyone who can't hit the road until Wednesday. The very early morning hours, between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. local time, is one of the least congested times to travel.
The July Fourth holiday can be a dangerous one for those driving. In 2015, there were 146 people who were killed in crashes that involved drunk driving, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Some ridesharing companies, like Lyft, are offering promotions for the holiday for those who want to celebrate with some drinks. Some states had sobriety checkpoints set up the weekend prior to the holiday and issued tickets to drivers who were breaking the law and driving with a blood-alcohol level above the legal limit.
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